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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22552063">All Signs Point to Love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/InerrantErotica/pseuds/InerrantErotica'>InerrantErotica</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Deaf Character, F/M, Happy Ending, Romance, Sex, Sign Language</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 16:28:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22552063</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/InerrantErotica/pseuds/InerrantErotica</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Every year on her birthday, General Amaya assembles the entire Standing Battalion to participate in a melee for the opportunity to win a promotion. All they have to do is land a single hit on her. Usually her interpreter Gren abstains from the  display, both so he can referee and because he's more of a diplomat than a fighter... but he's about to get a challenge of his own.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amaya/Gren (The Dragon Prince)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>All Signs Point to Love</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun was about to set over the kingdom of Katolis. Peace had finally been restored, usurpers ousted, kings crowned, and at last- a friendship between elves and humans, forged from a darkness which threatened to envelop them both.</p><p>Today was General Amaya’s birthday. The standing battalion just so happened to be on duty in the capital on this occasion so the whole castle would be witness to the… peculiar traditions of their most esteemed unit.</p><p>Corvus, the standing battalion’s tracker, was kept busy in the kitchens baking enough oatmeal raisin cookies for the entire battalion. The General’s favorite. Thousands of them, delivered by insulated baskets directly to the courtyard where they were engaged in their second tradition.</p><p>It had been cleared of all obstructions for a grand melee. General Amaya would always challenge the entire battalion to fight her. Half knew better than to take her on- they just enjoyed the cookies from the sidelines. The other half took their chances… for should that man or woman land a single blow, they were promised a promotion.</p><p>In all the years since she had started this tradition, not one of her soldiers ever succeeded.</p><p>It was late in the day and the melee was nearing its conclusion. Gren refereed the entire affair and he was getting tired just looking at them. He was tall, ginger-haired and befreckled, with blue eyes and boyish face. From neck to toe he wore the blue and silver uniform of a Katolis knight.</p><p>At the center of the melee, Amaya had discarded her own uniform, stripping it during a break to sample some of Corvus’ work from the bakery. The only metal she wore were the greaves of her boots and the kite of iron that was her formidable shield.</p><p>She had dressed down to a midriff baring white top- the undershirt of a Katolis general. It was the last thin layer separating her bare skin and the watching world… now soaked in sweat, rendered partially see-through and dangerously close to immodesty.</p><p>In her expression there was as much ferocity as arrogance, brown eyes darting to and fro to the men and women still able to contest her. Her short raven hair clung to her skin, moistened by sweat and unkempt from a whole day of sparring.</p><p> </p><p>Half a dozen men and women remained to try their luck. One rushed at her, wooden sword in hand. Down he went into the dirt. Another dashed in from the other side and down she went as well. Amaya backed off to give them space to crawl away in safety. She bashed a quarterstaff away with her shield caught another beneath her armpit. The General chopped the stave in half.</p><p>Gren furrowed his brow… in the confusion, anyone else might have ruled that as a hit. Yet he knew just from Amaya’s expression and movements that she hadn’t been touched. Three more soldiers were put on the ground, leaving just one prospective candidate remaining.</p><p>The soldier threw down her wooden sword with a shrug, “I’ll… have some cookies now.”</p><p>Amaya laughed, a pleasing hint at her unspoken voice.</p><p>‘Yes!’ she signed, ‘Bring me some more cookies!’</p><p>As they all went hobbling back, Gren scratched the back of his head, fingers running through his ginger hair, “So, uh, you’re not even going to try?”</p><p>The soldier scoffed at him, dressed completely in armor without a bruise or speck of dust on him, “You’re one to talk!”</p><p>Amaya caught only one half of the conversation with her eyes, but she turned her gaze back to Gren as he defended himself, “Oh, well, I’m the referee!”</p><p>“Yeah, that sounds like an excuse.” The woman shot back, “You’re getting off easy. When’s the last time you’ve ever even held a weapon?”</p><p>“Well, um… I am the General’s interpreter. I see myself as more of a diplomat than a fighter.” He said, clearing his throat.</p><p>“You’re a soldier of the standing battalion!” The woman spat, thrusting her wooden sword into his chest. She shot him a challenging grin and echoed his words, “You’re not even going to try?”</p><p>He took the weapon and looked over at Amaya, who was also grinning.</p><p>The general walked back to the make-shift arena and slammed her shield down, burying it a few inches into the soil. This courtyard was once such a verdant place… before a few hundred soldiers had made a melee out of the grounds.</p><p>“No shield?” He asked.</p><p>‘No shield.’ She signed back.</p><p>While he was fresh, the General was still panting, her chest rising and falling, abs tightened with exertion, biceps taut and skin glistening with the sheen of exertion. Oh… she was going to make a show of it. That’s why she wanted her hands free- so that she could talk smack.</p><p>This was going to be painful. Maybe not physically… but certainly it would be painful for his ego.</p><p>Best to get it over with then. He didn’t charge forward the way she expected, instead taking his time to get a good measure of the situation. Maybe if he approached from her shield-arm. After swinging that hunk of steel around all day, maybe she was more fatigued in that arm. She was also probably used to it, so if he attacked from that angle… even an experienced warrior like Amaya might overcompensate for the lack of weight.</p><p>It might just work!</p><p>But he couldn’t be too obvious. Even tired, General Amaya was a cunning adversary. She wouldn’t fall for the first attack, no matter how well executed. So he approached from non-dominant side.</p><p>Gren went on the attack, swinging his wooden sword low and attempting to catch her with a sweep but she easily hopped over it dropkicked him, throwing Gren backwards a few feet.</p><p>She got up before he did…</p><p>Some diversion that was. What was a feint without some follow-through? He had to try again with an attack that wouldn’t leave him so open. He approached from the same angle and she signed ‘Again?’ as he went for a swing.</p><p>Amaya dodged back as he swung across her chest. She began to sign… something, but he was determined to keep up the pressure- aiming for her hands! Amaya broke her hands apart with a smile and went on the offensive.</p><p>Now was his chance. She could hit him and it would be fine… but all he needed to do was land one good strike in! They could trade blows and he’d still win.</p><p>He swung his sword down on her dominant side while she was focused on punishing him. The wood went ‘WHAP’ on her forearm as she delivered a gut-punch strong enough to knock the wind out of his lungs.</p><p>Amaya’s warrior instincts took over and she followed up with a grapple, stepping behind him and wrapping her arm across his chest… while putting her boot behind one of his legs. She threw him, literally head over heels, and put Gren on his back just like all the others.</p><p>Maybe… she overdid it a bit. Her interpreter was unconscious before her. Amaya wondered how she got so carried away as she was rubbing her arm.</p><p>Oh. There was a small bruise on her forearm… that’s why her instincts kicked in.</p><p>He actually got a hit in.</p><p>Gren did the impossible… and he wasn’t even awake enough celebrate with some cookies!</p><p>…<br/>…<br/>…</p><p>He awoke to the sound of splashing water. Gren still had a bit of a headache as he rose to sit upright in bed. Not… his bed, though. General Amaya’s?</p><p>This was her room in the castle, candlelit as night swept over the kingdom of Katolis… which meant the room over, where the sound had been coming from- that was the general’s personal washroom. As was to be expected, even a hard woman could live in luxury if she was the king’s aunt.</p><p>Gren saw his armor laid out on a large table beneath a mirror- right next to Amaya’s.</p><p>‘I… got a hit in, right?’ He asked, rubbing the back of his head.</p><p>He thought he did…</p><p>The washroom had no door- only the semblance of one via a silken sheet hanging from the frame above. The splashing soon ended… and a few moments later, the soldier sat dumbstruck as a figure passed through the silks.</p><p>A nude figure.</p><p>A woman’s figure!</p><p>General Amaya’s figure!</p><p>“Uh!” He instantly flushed and turned his whole body away, “G-General!”</p><p>She was about to sign when he averted her eyes. The woman huffed and then side-stepped back into his line of sight, signing again. He darted his eyes away once more.</p><p>“Gren!” Amaya said. The word, any word at all, sounded so alien coming from the lips of a woman who ordinarily went days or weeks or months and years without uttering a word.</p><p>He turned his head back to face her, as her singular command willed him to.</p><p>She had just come out from a bath and was soaking wet- head to toe. Her hair clung to her head and neck and her skin had a fetching sheen to its every inch. The cold air made her nipples stiff and rivulets of water slid down her body, down her abs and into her groin. Droplets coalesced at her fingertips hanging loosely at her side… and then fell to the ground.</p><p>“General.” He said, his freckled cheeks reddening something fierce.</p><p>‘Congratulations.’ She signed in front of her chest with two clasped hands. He blinked, trying to focus on her fingers… but his eyes wandered. As she went on ‘speaking’, Gren found himself increasingly distracted until she dramatically waved her hands to capture his attention again.</p><p>‘What did I just say?’</p><p>“Uh… I did it!” He answered, as if speaking the words aloud was what he needed for them to actually register, “I got a hit in on you.”</p><p>‘And?’ She signed, crossing her fingers perpendicular and then wiggling one.*</p><p>“You… you’re sorry.”</p><p>She nodded.</p><p>“You hit me a little too hard.”</p><p>She shrugged her shoulders and let her hands slap her thighs.</p><p>“It’s alright.” He said, putting up his hands defensively.</p><p>She bobbed her head, furrowing her brow and smiling at the same time in an expression that sarcastically said ‘Really?’</p><p>‘You’re the only one.’ She signed, walking over confidently and sitting down at his side, ‘I can’t treat my best soldier like this.’</p><p>“I got lucky is all.” He said, clearing his throat and fighting the compulsion to look away for the sake of her modesty. That’s when he noticed they were… close. Really close. The general was sitting next to him, totally naked, as they shared her bed.</p><p>This wasn’t strange at all!</p><p>‘You’re out of uniform.’ She signed.</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>Well… right. Everyone in the unit was supposed to go off of what the commanding officer was wearing, which in this case was… nothing!</p><p>She pulled his shirt up, exposing his smooth bare abdomen and chest. Gren was indeed more of a diplomat than a fighter… but she found his form pleasing to look at. If she wanted muscular, then she could look in a mirror.</p><p>Amaya put her arms against his sides, massaging him below his armpits. Back and forth she went, from his breast to his spine, her thumbs brushing up against his nipples… her fingers crawling along the curvature of his torso.</p><p>When she looked down, the woman noticed just how aroused he was. His cock was straining hard against his trousers...</p><p>The general backed away, smirking and shaking her head.</p><p>‘I have to make it up to you,’ She signed, ‘...for knocking you out. And…’ Amaya shrugged and smiled during the pause, ‘We should celebrate your promotion.’</p><p>“G-General, you-”</p><p>She stopped him with but a fierce glance. Then signed ‘Three rules’, poking her fingertips and then her palm.</p><p> </p><p>‘One. No questions.<br/>Two. No kissing.<br/>Three. No telling.’</p><p>Gren blinked, his blue eyes gleaming with both uncertainty and excitement. Was this really happening? Apparently so, as she moved her hands down to his trousers, massaging him from the outside. The woman leaned forward, kissing his breast… and then his nipple. Her lips went on an apology tour across Gren’s body, from his chest to his abs to just beneath his navel… and the faint trail of red hair leading down below.</p><p>He leaned back, finally relaxing as Amaya undid his belt and pulled on his pants. She slid them down his hips, revealing more and more of his body until his cock sprang to attention. Gren was quite hung, sporting a triumphantly stiff hard-on for such a mild-mannered soldier.</p><p>She smiled. He had all the makings of a natural-born leader and an impeccable warrior… it was just his meek temperament holding him back. Of course he was naturally endowed with something so impressive as well- something she figured he had no idea what to do with.</p><p>Lucky for him, Amaya had a few ideas of what she could do with it…</p><p>She brushed her hair out of her face and wrapped her lips around his cock, plunging her head down into his lap. She slipped her hands behind him and the bed and squeezed each of his cheeks which, of course, made the meek translator clench up and thrust his hips forward.</p><p>Amaya furrowed her brow as her nose pressed up against the trail of ginger hair leading from his navel. She dragged her lips back up his length, coating him in a thin layer of spit that particularly emphasized his full veins in the candlelight.</p><p>Or maybe it was the airtight suction she had formed on his cock that was making it throb with so much strength and virility… When she pulled away, his cock sprang from her lips with a wet pop and a bounce.</p><p>“General!” Gren let out, panting for air.</p><p>She looked up, one of her fingers drawing dangerous close to his rear entrance… before she slid her hands back to his front, splaying them out wide across his groin, palms flat on his hips. Then she kissed his head… and licked it. Her eyes focused on his own, intent on divining every little microexpression from his face.</p><p>Something sweet was on the tip of her tongue. A little bit of precum accompanied his strained features. Gren was already so very close… spurred to greater and greater heights of arousal not just by her ministrations on his physical body but also, perhaps, by the fact that it came from his superior officer.</p><p>The woman pressed her tongue to the base of his cock and rolled it along one of his throbbing veins. Even as he twitched against her, she maintained a firm pressure along his entire length… until she drew to his very tip, at the narrow slit where precum was welling up. She lapped it up, savoring the sweet taste… and flicking her tongue at its source. His cock throbbed again, threatening to throw off her aim.</p><p>Gren let out a moan- some sort of protest or warning. He was saying something… but it was all lost on Amaya, whose honey brown eyes were intensely focused on her work. His whole body tensed up and his stomach sank in… and a moment later, he came.</p><p>The first violent spurt struck her tongue as it teased his sensitive tip, splashing back onto himself. He tried to thrust his hips up but her splayed out hands kept him pinned to the bed. She rolled her tongue around his head and let his second and third and fourth spurts fly.</p><p>Powerful focused shots of cum arced high up into the air where they broke apart and scattered, landing in drops across Amaya’s hair, shoulder, and even her back. One arced backwards, raining down upon his smooth chest and abdomen.</p><p>She kissed and lapped at his head as it shot more steaming hot cum. Each squirt was less powerful than the last, though also heavier. Instead of firing right over her head, they landed across her brow and cheek, over the bridge of her nose and its tip. His cum splashed against her full lips and dribbled down her chin. When at last his energetic gushing had abated down to an exhausted oozing, Amaya suckled on his sensitive head, eagerly extracting from his cock every last drop it had to give.</p><p>Gren laid upon his back, shuddering and moaning as the general sucked him dry. His cum clung to strands of her hair and slid down her shoulder and back. It stuck close to her skin when she was still- but her enthusiastic ‘clean up tour’ sent much of it sliding down her face and back onto his own body, where it was soon devoured. She travelled back up his body, lapping up every last drop she could find.</p><p>When he at last recovered enough to look down, he found the general smiling at him. She had a cocky challenging look to her eyes.</p><p>Amaya backed off of him and slipped out of the bed, signing to him, ‘When’s the last time you’ve been with a woman?’</p><p>“E-excuse me!?” He asked with a huff.</p><p>‘When’s the last time you’ve gotten off?’ She asked instead. All he could offer her was a sheepish shrug in response.</p><p>‘You’re a talented soldier, ginger.’ That was her name sign for him, for his hair. It was faster than spelling out Gren every time.</p><p>At first he thought it impersonal, back when he was a squire translating for the first time. Now, though… it was laced with sentimentality. Any other time, she’d call him by his rank.</p><p>‘Still too meek, though.’</p><p>The general turned on her heel and walked back to the washroom… and Gren caught himself staring at her ass the whole time. A firm muscled posterior, it was… with a powerful set of legs supporting it.</p><p>“Damn!” He cursed loudly, putting the back of his fist up to his forehead. The redhead chided himself for giving out so soon. Though it’s not like he had a choice… Amaya was pinning him down.</p><p>Maybe that wasn’t the way to think about it. Too meek, she said.</p><p>As she splashed warm water on her face to clean up, Gren sat still on her bed, ruminating on this crazy turn of events. He looked down, taking note of his glistening cock standing tall.</p><p>Still tall.</p><p>Still hard…</p><p>“Damn.” he said to himself, confident he could shout and yell and she’d never know, “You’ve really done a number on me, Amaya.”</p><p>He pressed his thumb to his length and let go- watching his cock spring back into place, stiff as a weapons-grade breadloaf.</p><p>She soon returned, just as naked as before. The general brought him a washcloth so he could clean himself up and was about to throw it to him when he shook his head, “I’m not finished.”</p><p>Amaya raised her eyebrows as a smile crept upon her lips. She tossed the cloth aside and made an obliging gesture. She marched over to him and stood before him, so that his cock rubbed against her hard abs. Her fingers wrapped around his length, stroking him appraisingly…</p><p>It quite pleased her to hold such a hard and heavy example of his arousal like this.</p><p>He drew closer to her, but she pulled her head away. He nearly forgot the first rule... </p><p>“On the bed.” He whispered, jerking his head over to the side.</p><p>Amaya looked at him with mock surprise, as if to say ‘Oh?’... but she complied, bending over and planting her hands upon the silken sheets. She put one knee upon the bed when he grabbed her hips from behind, keeping her from maneuvering out of place. Quickly figuring out his intentions, the woman tucked her other leg up, readied on her hands and knees as Gren stood on his feet like a proper soldier.</p><p>She bit her lip as she felt him angling behind her. Tough as she was, Gren was quite well hung. It wouldn’t take much to push her… and push he did, thrusting his hips forward and sending her whole body lurching forward, breasts flattened into the sheets.</p><p>He wiped some sweat from his brow and began a deep and steady rhythm, his hips smacking into her firm muscled ass and making them reverberate with each impact. He looked down, watching his cock appear and disappear behind the general’s wonderfully shaped rear end. He brought each of his hands to her cheeks, squeezing the soft flesh. Maybe the softest thing about her…</p><p>Then he thought of something that was probably softer... Gren hunched over, reaching beneath her body and grabbing two handfuls of her breasts.</p><p>“Aah~” Amaya let out. Her voice… the second time he’d heard it today. He squeezed harder, pulling her breasts in seperate directions as he slammed his cock in her as deep as it could go, “Unnh!”</p><p>“G-general!” He said… but then he was reminded that she wouldn’t be able to hear him.</p><p>Yet she seemed to sense his hesitation. So, without warning, she clutched at the sheets and threw her weight backwards, hitting him with such a force that he took a step backwards… it was like she was trying to throw him off- bucking on him like that.</p><p>A… primal instinct burgeoned within him. She said he was meek… and now was his chance to prove her wrong, in spite of everything she was doing to try to stop him.</p><p>Gren slapped his hands on her ass cheeks again, squeezing them tight. His fingers depressed hard into the soft flesh… until he reached back to her hips, holding her like an anchor. He was going to fuck her… and fuck her hard. Amaya thought she could get one over on him by rocking back on him like this but he wasn’t going to let her.</p><p>She went hard, throwing her weight on him… but he only went harder, forcing his thick cock against her. “Aaaahh!” She cried out, lowering her head into the sheets to scream.</p><p>By all the primals, hearing her like this only made it hotter! It drove him on to drive into her… with more and more aggression. “Hnnnghh!” She moaned into the sheets, then turned her head to the side and let out a high yell, “Aaaahhhhhhhh!”</p><p>Gren was startled by a knock on the door, which again gave her an opportunity to slam her body backwards. She tightened on his cock, squeezing him like a vice as she moaned and shouted.</p><p>“General Amaya!” The voices from beyond the door called out, muffled as they were… and barely audible over the sounds of bodies colliding and a woman’s moans.</p><p>“Everything’s fine!” Gren responded, licking his lips and focusing back on the task at hand. She was cumming on him and still going strong… At this rate, she’d wake up the whole castle.</p><p>“It’s under control!” He added, his voice booming and authoritative. It helped that he was channeling Amaya a bit, as far they knew… but he still had to find a way to keep it down or they’d get really suspicious.</p><p>He grabbed her shoulder and threw her onto her back, her hips shifting to their side and rubbing his cock in new heavenly ways. With a wild determination in his blue eyes, Gren pushed himself forward and pressed his lips to her own. Amaya’s own gaze turned angry and she rose her fist up over their heads to strike him…</p><p>...but then she hesitated.</p><p>Her lips parted, and she invited his tongue to rub and mingle with her own. So long as they were kissing, she wouldn’t yell or cry out. Moan and sigh, perhaps. Every little vocalization she made spurred him on.</p><p>As his kissing intensified, his thrusting slowed to a deep and steady push. There was only a brief intermission as she flipped all the way over, her legs on each side of his torso. They kissed again, tongues dancing as his hips rolled into her own, as their bodies no longer violently collided with one another but waxed and waned like waves on a shore.</p><p>She rose one hand up to the back of his head, her fingers clutching at his flame-red hair. They kissed and kissed… unable to get enough of one another’s embrace. Her other hand explored his smooth and muscled back as he squeezed one of her breasts and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her body closer.</p><p>They were both starting to moan now, even if they were going a little bit slower. A spark between them had ignited. Kissing really had made all the difference, bringing them greater and greater heights of intimacy and pleasure. His thrusts were now deep and loving, her body now inviting instead of challenging.</p><p>Any concern he had for being too meek or too aggressive faded from his mind, leaving only the pleasure of this intimate lovemaking. He felt himself being drawn, slowly and steadily, towards another incredible climax. He was drawing near now… but so was Amaya.</p><p>Before long, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace- one of her famed bear hugs. As the woman squeezed him in her arms, she squeezed him in her womanhood. Did she… work out those muscles too!? He pulled from their kiss to let out a moan of his own, which only served to encourage her.</p><p>“Amaya, I’m…” He stopped mid-sentence, realizing she wouldn’t be able to make out a word he was saying, not with them being so close like this- too close to read his lips.</p><p>Then… he couldn’t be blamed for anything that was about to happen! She had him pinned, just as before… Being bear hugged so tightly like this, the only option left to him was to give in. He surrendered not to her challenge of his manhood and meekness, but to the intimacy of the moment.</p><p>Gren and Amaya both came, their bodies as close as a man and woman’s could ever be. They held each other close, still moving in sync for the sake of their mutual gratification. As her body seized and gripped at him, he pumped and spent himself. They were in ecstasy for a long time, their bodies convulsing as if with wills of their own.</p><p>They kissed for a long time, passing the night away until their eyelids grew heavy and they sank into eachother’s embrace.</p><p>…<br/>…<br/>…</p><p>“Your orders, Captain Gren?” A soldier asked.</p><p>No more a mere commander, he had earned his promotion from the melee as promised. What was more, in the past few months he was made Acting General of the Standing Battalion. General Amaya had received orders from the King himself to stand down.</p><p>“Our feint element will lure the target into an ambush position here.” He said, pointing out a trail on the map, “I want our forces to be evenly divided into two flanking elements. I will personally lead the target to the end of the ambush position and then double back to the entrance. There, I will deliver the final blow.”</p><p>The officers all nodded in agreement, men and women armored to the teeth. They were all ready for war, in polished suits of Katolis steel.</p><p>“Any questions?” Gren asked, standing upright.</p><p>“No, sir!” They answered.</p><p>“Very well, we will begin operations… immediately!”</p><p>…<br/>…<br/>…</p><p>Prince Callum turned around in the castle hallway and signed ‘Hurry up!’ with a smile, shaking his fingers at his sides.</p><p>“What’re you saying?” Rayla asked. The moonshadow elf was quite surprised to learn that Prince Callum ‘Not good at anything’ wasn’t just good at magic… but also this new confounding gestural language that she had no idea even existed!</p><p>“Telling her to hurry up.” He answered with a shrug.</p><p>“Are ye daft!?” Rayla exclaimed, “She’s with child, Callum!”</p><p>‘This is nothing.’ Amaya replied as she approached. She was out of uniform but no less royal in her bearing- clad in flowing blue and white maternity clothes, ‘All the stairs in the castle can’t stop me.’</p><p>“See?” Callum shrugged, looking smugly at Rayla.</p><p>“I dinnae know what that means!” She protested.</p><p>“She said she’s fine. C’mon!” Callum waved his hand, paving the way.</p><p>He led the general out to the courtyard, where Amaya was soon confronted with the entire Standing Battalion at each end. Half to her left, half to her right, all lined up in shining armor at attention.</p><p>“STAND TO FOR INSPECTION!” Gren announced at the far end of the formation, signing all the while. Amaya blinked, unaccustomed to seeing him doing… well, doing her job!</p><p>He marched forward, walking in silence for a long time until he stood before Amaya and gave her a nod.</p><p>“The men and women of the Standing Battalion await you, General.” He said, signing all the while.</p><p>Amaya almost blushed… but then she nodded resolutely and smiled. She rubbed her pregnant belly and stepped out to inspect the first line of troops. Gren took his place at the very center of the formation.</p><p>“OPEN RANKS!” He ordered with a bellow, and the men and women made way for the General to walk in between them. She looked them all over, one by one. Not a single soldier had a nick or scuff on their uniform. Everything was perfect.</p><p>They got to the end of the formation, where she turned back and began her inspection of the other half arrayed out there in the courtyard. “CLOSE RANKS!” Gren ordered to one side, then turned on his heel to face the other, “OPEN RANKS!”</p><p>Again, General Amaya found no fault at all. In the months since Gren had taken command, he had flawlessly maintained discipline and good order within the unit.</p><p>Corvus was the last man in the line. Amaya passed him with a smile and then go to the very end, back to where Callum and Rayla were waiting at the entrance of the courtyard.</p><p>“CLOSE RANKS!” Gren commanded, standing in the center.</p><p>He was the last one. Amaya strode up to him… but when she was just three paces away, he dropped down to one knee. The general furrowed her brow… and then looked left and right at the troops, confused.</p><p>She wasn’t royalty. Well, she was the prince’s aunt but… nobody had to kneel for her or anything!</p><p>“General.” Gren said, reaching behind him, “...Amaya.”</p><p>He produced a tiny box and flipped it open before her. The woman’s dark eyes widened and she visibly recoiled, a twinkle in her gaze and a smile tugging at her lips. She nodded and signed, ‘What took you so long?’</p><p>The formation lost all military bearing and let out a cheer, rushing out to surround the couple.</p><p>Rayla shot a sheepish glance at Callum, elbowing him in the arm.</p><p>From one of the Castle’s high towers, King Ezran looked out the window as Crownguard Soren stood beside him, watching the whole affair.</p><p>“Awww.” Ezran said, looking down to Bait glowing bright orange in his arms, “Don’t you love happy endings?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*The word ’And’ is actually somewhat controversial in American Sign Language. It is very rarely used. So Amaya is making the sign for ‘Plus’ instead. I choose to keep the translation as ‘And?’ to make it easier on the reader, even if this kind of vocabulary isn’t commonly used.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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